The UFC reached a settlement in one of its antitrust lawsuits Thursday to pay a group of plaintiffs $375 million, the league announced.
TKO Group, UFC’s parent company, agreed to the settlement with the plaintiffs of Le v. Zuffa in the class action lawsuit alleging UFC suppressed fighters’ wages. The plaintiff group includes more than 1,200 fighters who previously competed in UFC.
Five related class-action lawsuits were filed between December 2014 and March 2015, with the initial complaint being filed by former fighters Cung Le, Nate Quarry and Jon Fitch that December. The five lawsuits were consolidated into one in June 2015.
Thursday’s settlement comes after Judge Richard Franklin Boulware II of the U.S. District Court of Nevada rejected a proposed $335 million settlement in July. The court must approve the new settlement terms, which UFC declared in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
“We have reached a revised agreement with Plaintiffs to settle the Le case with terms that we believe address Judge Boulware’s stated concerns,” a UFC spokesperson said. “While we believe the original settlement was fair — a sentiment that was also shared by Plaintiffs — we feel it is in the best interest of all parties to bring this litigation to a close.”
The UFC still has not reached an agreement with former fighter Kajan Johnson, who filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2021. The UFC said that case is still in the early stages and, “a motion to dismiss the complaint remains pending.”
(Photo of UFC president Dana White at a news conference: Aaron Meullion / Imagn Images)
